New Shelter Debate

New Shelter Debate

Article excerpt

Homeless facility's statistics spur questions on how effective
one would be here

SARASOTA COUNTY

As the county continues to investigate two potential sites for a
homeless shelter, Sarasota officials have been sharing data they
said raises questions about whether the facility will effectively
get people off the streets.

They are looking at statistical summaries from Pinellas Safe
Harbor -- one of the shelters Sarasota is using as a model.

"I was appalled," Eileen Normile said of the summaries. She
requested the information as a member of the city's Independent
Police Advisory Panel. "They were startling and they need further
explanation."

Cecilia Barreda, a spokeswoman with the Pinellas County Sheriff's
Office, which runs the shelter, said spreading the reports without
context has created confusion. For example, one of the numbers that
shocked Normile was that of the 5,029 clients who left the shelter
last year, only two people completed the program.

"The bottom line is there is no program," Barreda said. "It
doesn't really mean anything."

Safe Harbor's 2013 summary also says that of the 5,110 people
they served last year, the bulk of those who left -- 4,597 people --
fell into an "Other -- mostly missed curfew" category.

"In essence some of those numbers could potentially be part of
the success rate," Barreda said, because those people may have found
a home or moved in with family and just not reported that to Safe
Harbor.

The report is a "technocrat data set" and not an accurate
measurement of whether the shelter is successful, said Sarasota's
homelessness consultant Robert Marbut, who helped create the
Pinellas County shelter.

There have been serious "misunderstandings and
misrepresentations" about the numbers, Marbut said.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office uses that data to determine
details like how much toilet paper and soap they need, Marbut said.

The summaries did not focus on the information that he said is
the most important to track success, including the reduction in
homeless on the streets, in jail and in emergency rooms.

Those numbers have reportedly gone down in Pinellas County. Since
the shelter opened, the counts of homeless on the streets of
Clearwater and St. Petersburg decreased by 81 percent and 93
percent, respectively, Marbut wrote in a response to the data.

He cited the police and the sheriff's office as sources.

"I would like his raw data," City Commissioner Susan Chapman said
at a meeting Monday. "I would like the basis for his opinion."

Proposals under scrutiny

Although some residents and two city commissioners, Willie Shaw
and Chapman, continue to question whether the community's investment
will be effective, the effort to create a shelter -- and broader
system of care -- is nonetheless moving forward.

An update that will be presented to the county commission today
outlines the county and Gulf Coast Community Foundation's efforts to
create two family shelters. …

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